BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Broward County commissioners selected a new mayor and vice mayor on Tuesday.
Michael Udine is the new mayor of Broward County. He is a former mayor of Parkland and served as vice mayor of Broward County until Tuesday.
Former mayor and senator Steve Geller spoke a lot about how his term as the face of the county was “interesting,” saying his main focus was protecting the life and health of Broward residents while balancing the county’s economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, Udine says his first steps as mayor will be to help the community heal.
“Mental health is going to be a huge issue,” he said. “I think all of our non-profits and county agencies that deal with that are going to be stressed beyond belief because we had issues going into the pandemic, and the pandemic only exacerbated it.
“We’ve had businesses that had to shut down because of this, we have people whose finances have been decimated, and all of these people are going to add to a system that’s already overloaded in many cases. Couple that with the fact that what we’re reading about affordability and housing, it’s getting harder and harder and adding to the stress of everyday peoples’ lives.”
Commissioners also selected Lamar Fisher as the county’s new vice mayor. Fisher, who is a former mayor of Pompano Beach, narrowly beat Nan Rich for the spot.